Quotes About Reading

Some readers read a book as if it were an instruction manual, expecting to understand everything first time, but of course when you write, you put into every sentence an overflow of meaning, and you create in every sentence as many resonances and double meanings and ambiguities as you can possibly pack in there, so that people can read it again and get something new each time.

I believe it's fine to give up books even after a page; there's so much to read in the world that will delight you, so why should you work against the grain?

Leases, writes, statutes, all are written to be read and each person reads them by the light of self-interest.

I had read all the books so hard that when I gave them back the print was faint and gray with exhaustion

Leases, writs, statutes, all are written to be read, and each person reads them by the light of self-interest.

You must believe everything and nothing of what you read.

For a month he is at home: he reads.

For a month he is at home: he reads. He reads his Testament, but he knows what it says. He reads Petrarch whom he loves, reads how he defied the doctors: when they had given him up to fever he lived still, and when they came back in the morning, he was sitting up writing. The poet never trusted any doctor after that; but Liz left him too fast for physician's advice, good or bad, or for the apothecary with his cassia, his galingale, his wormwood, and his printed cards with prayers on.

She thought it must be a lonely life for a boy who hated books.

I try to read for pleasure whenever I can - it's a great way just to shut it off for a while so your brain doesn't get fried.

Only reading, she knew, could distract her from her obsessive thoughts and restore her sense of peace.

Only reading, she knew, could distract her from her obssessive thoughts and restore her sense of peace.

A man who possesses the art of correct reading will … instinctively and immediately perceive everything which in his opinion is worth permanently remembering, either because it is suited to his purpose or generally worth knowing … The art of reading, as of learning, is this: … to retain the essential, to forget the nonessential.

Never put off till tomorrow the book you can read today.

The time to read is any time: no apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is necessary. It is the only art which can be practised at any hour of the day or night, whenever the time and inclination comes, that is your time for reading; in joy or sorrow, health or illness.

Librarians are hot. They have knowledge and power over their domain...It is no coincidence how many librarians are portrayed as having a passionate interior, hidden by a cool layer of reserve. Aren't books like that? On the shelf, their calm covers belie the intense experience of reading one. Reading inflames the soul. Now, what sort of person would be the keeper of such books?

He reached into the bag and drew out an odd array of manga, ripped paperbacks of books both classic and modern, and a small stack of crumpled magazines. "See, I even brought some things to read aloud. I wasn't sure what you'd like, so there's a bit of everything.

Though Charlie didn't do great in school and had been long ago sorted into the group of kids who were never going to college, she read a lot and she paid attention. She was smart.

Devilish rogues, the newspapers," said Claparon. "Monsieur, the newspapers do all the mischief. They are useful sometimes, but they keep me awake many a night. I wish they didn't. I have put my eyes out reading and ciphering.

Circulating libraries were not as yet; if you wished to read a book, you were obliged to buy it, for which reason novels of the early part of the century were sold in numbers which now seem well-nigh fabulous to us.

It's only with mild surprise I find I don't so much read anymore, but rather teeter, wonder, take flight, like Pascal, like Madeline, like Bemelmans, like Lamorisse, like my daughters. Like Robert. Like anyone who has ever started or finished a book, or a love affair, or confused the two, in sweet anticipation of the fall.

I did, although I didn't read from page 1 to page 187 but I read chunks of it. I did a little bit of science when I was in the university so I was able to understand the graphs and pie charts and stuff like that. It was extremely dry.

before realizing that everyone would have a turn choosing a book, and so she'd probably end up having to wade through some awful, worthy tomes.

It's a particular kind of pleasure, of intimacy, loving a book with someone.